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Can Rappahannock library afford to expand?

by | Feb 1, 2025

The Rappahannock County Library in Washington.
The Rappahannock County Library in Washington.

Study underway to answer the question

A feasibility study is underway to determine if enough funds can be raised in Rappahannock County to pay for a proposed major renovation of its library. 

Last year, tentative plans and schematics were presented to the Board of Supervisors detailing an expansion of both the east and west sides of the existing Rappahannock County Public Library  in Washington. The projected cost is nearly $6 million. 

The project, which has been in the works since 2017, would almost double the library’s usable  space from 4,946 square feet to 9,300 and expand its capacity for books, computers, classes and other resources. 

The Library Board of Trustees, earlier this month, chose WPO Development, a national planning and campaign management company, to conduct the feasibility study that aims to gauge the viability of a capital fundraising campaign to help finance the project.

At last Thursday’s board meeting, Board of Trustees President Victoria Fortuna said Keith Waters, chairman and CEO of WPO Development, has agreed to work with the library. Library Director Amanda Weakley said the library is excited to work with Waters. 

“We’ve gotten things started on the feasibility study,” Weakley said during last Thursday’s board meeting. “I have been working with Keith, and as soon as he got the word from Victoria, he was emailing me immediately sharing stats and things like that. He seems to be working pretty hard on the case study.”

The board said it is also looking into grant funding to go toward the expansion project and have received a “substantial” pledge from an anonymous local family. 

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By Ireland Hayes

Read more articles by Ireland Hayes
Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.